Nigeria Centre for Disease Control says about 15,060 suspected cases of diphtheria infection were recorded in the Country.
The Director General, Ifedayo Adetifa, disclosed this during a press briefing on Thursday.
He explained that from 137 local government areas across 20 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, out of the suspected cases, 9,478 were confirmed.
He noted that 71.5 per cent of the confirmed cases were between the ages of one and 14 years, with infants accounting for less than one per cent.
Mr Adetifa said data shows that Kano has the highest number of cases at 7,747, followed by Yobe with 841 cases, the epicentre of the infection.
He added, “Bauchi State recorded 369 infections, followed by Katsina – 275, Borno – 164, Jigawa – 24, Kaduna – 18, Lagos – eight, Zamfara – seven, FCT – seven, Gombe – five, Sokoto – four, Osun – three, and Niger State recorded two diphtheria cases.”
The Director General stated that Cross River, Enugu, Imo, Nasarawa, Kebbi, and Taraba states recorded one case of diphtheria infection each.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, while speaking at the briefing, said a total of 1,692,762 children between six months and four years of age had been diligently administered the Pentavalent vaccine—a vital safeguard against this disease.
In addition, he said that an impressive 3,166,419 children aged four to 14 years had received the TD vaccines, further strengthening the Country from the disease among children and teenagers.